Playing to Win (The Trouble with Tomboys Book2)

by Stephanie Street

  And I’d really screwed things up.

  I shrugged. “It doesn’t matter. It’s over.”

  “What’s over,” Kelly asked and I barely hid my irritation. I should just wait to say anything to Natalie until Kelly showed up. Every morning we had to rehash the first five minutes of conversation Kelly missed.

  “She broke up with Asher,” Natalie said.

  Kelly frowned. “What? Really? Because of what I told you?”

  “What did you think would happen?” I asked.

  Kelly blinked. “I don’t know. I guess, I thought you guys would talk and there would be some other explanation.”

  I rounded on her. “If that’s what you thought, then why didn’t you find out yourself before making me doubt my boyfriend?”

  Kelly’s mouth dropped open. “Hey, I was just looking out for you!”

  “What happened, Kel? Why do you think every guy’s a douche? Asher’s not like that. And now he hates me!”

  “You didn’t have to go accusing him of anything, Jordan. You could have just asked him. Talked to him. But you didn’t. You got your feelings hurt and ran off crying. Did you even let him explain? Hmm. I didn’t think so. So, don’t go blaming me for what you did. All I did was give you the information. You didn’t have to believe me and you didn’t have to push him away.” With that, Kelly turned on her heel and walked away, leaving me with my mouth hanging open.

  Well, crap.

  “I gotta go,” I told Natalie. “I’ll see you later.”

  But I didn’t. For the next couple of weeks, I avoided Natalie and Kelly, choosing to pack my lunch and eat it in the commons. I went to practice, worked on speed training in the basement, and then locked myself away in my bedroom.

  I’d alienated both of my best friends. My boyfriend. And my little brother.

  And every night, I opened my window. But Asher never sang.

  Asher

  “You miss her don’t you?”

  “Who?” But I knew exactly.

  Payton rolled his eyes. “Jordan, you idiot. You miss her.”

  I didn’t answer. I didn’t need to. You didn’t have to know me well to know I was miserable. It had been over two weeks since the argument in her backyard, both of them.

  “I feel bad, though. Like it’s my fault. If you hadn’t covered for me-”

  “Dude, it’s not like that. There was other stuff, too.” I stood to pack up my guitar. I needed to head back over to the high school. We were days away from the talent show and Payton had been working his tail off. He’d learned a song to perform on his own and then we’d worked on one to perform together.

  “Other stuff like what?” he asked.

  Payton and I had gotten pretty tight lately, but not that tight. “Dude, I’m not talking about your sister with you.”

  “But you still like her, don’t you? And I know for a fact she likes you back.”

  I stopped to look over at him. “How do you know she still likes me?”

  Payton groaned as he rolled his eyes this time. “Are you kidding me? All she’s done is mope around for two solid weeks. She stares out the window at your house all the time. And her room has a permanent draft coming under the door because her window’s always open.”

  I didn’t know if I should believe him. Jordan had done a bang up job of ignoring me. We avoided eye contact during practice, only speaking when absolutely necessary. Which didn’t happen often. I hardly ever saw her at school, even when I went looking.

  And what did I think about her opening her window?

  I didn’t have the heart to play outside anymore. The alcove between the trees had become our spot, mine and Jordan’s. I didn’t want to go out there anymore without her. But even if she did miss me, so what? She didn’t tell me. She didn’t apologize for not trusting me, for accusing me of basically cheating on her.

  “It doesn’t matter, Pay. She doesn’t trust me. What can I do about that? She thinks I’m lying to her. Hiding things. And I’m not.”

  Payton frowned. “Well, you are hiding what happened with me, right?”

  “Well, yeah, but how can get her trust by breaking yours? It doesn’t work like that. Besides, I wouldn’t go behind your back like that, man. We’re buds, right?” I held out my fist.

  Payton hesitated. But then he grinned. “Yeah, we are.” He bumped his fist on the top then the bottom of mine.

  “Good. Now, I gotta get back to school.” I headed to the door, but called over my shoulder. “Keep practicing.”

  “Hey, wait!” Payton called out.

  I stopped and turned around. “What?”

  He jogged over to the door. “What about the ticket?”

  I frowned. “What do you mean?”

  “Dude, the one for Jordan? What are you going to do if we don’t take her?”

  Hmm. I hadn’t thought about it. “I don’t know. Take Jarom maybe.”

  Payton made a face. “Okay, but don’t tell him yet. Wait and see if things work out first with you and Jordan.”

  I ran my fingers through my hair and sighed. “Payton, I don’t think-”

  “Promise. Please. Just wait. See what happens?”

  I could tell it was important to him so I agreed. “Fine. I’ll wait. But I don’t think anything will change between Jordan and me.”

  Payton grinned. “I wouldn’t be so sure about that, man.”

  “Okay, weirdo. I really have to go.” I reached out and ruffled his hair which I knew he hated and hurried out the door before he could catch me.

  Payton

  I had to do something. As much as I might not always show it, I loved my sister. As far as sisters went, I probably had one of the coolest. How many guys could say they had a badass sister who played hockey on a guys team?

  Not many.

  And she must be pretty or a guy like Asher wouldn’t look twice at her. I could only dream of being as cool as him.

  So, I figured, I’d better fix the part of them that broke because of me. I owed it to Asher and if I’m being honest, I owed it to Jordan. Asher told me what she’d done. How it had been her idea for him to mentor me. At first, it kind of made me mad, like he was only being my friend because of my sister, but then I realized I didn’t care. I loved playing the guitar and I also didn’t suck at singing. Whatever his motivations were in the beginning, I knew he was my friend now.

  So, I needed to tell Jordan what happened that night and if she still wanted to be mad at Asher, well, at least, it wouldn’t be because of me.

  After dinner I knocked on Jordan’s bedroom door. The cold air from under her door chilled my bare toes. Man, she had it bad.

  “Jordan, come on. I need to talk to you.” I knocked again.

  “Hang on. I’m coming.” She opened the door and I laughed out loud.

  “What are you wearing?”

  Her cheeks got red and she folded her arms over the unicorn onesie costume she’d worn for Halloween a couple of years ago. “I was a little chilly.”

  I gave her a knowing look and walked into her room. “I wonder why.” I closed the window and pulled the curtains shut over it.

  She frowned. “What are you doing?” She started to move toward it, but I stopped her.

  “He’s not there. One, it’s freezing. And two, didn’t you two used to make out out there?” I shuddered just thinking about it. Gross. “He’s not going to sit out there and be reminded of that.”

  Her shoulders fell.

  “This is cute, though.” I touched the arm of her costume. “You should wear it to school.”

  She shoved my hand away. “Shut up, you punk. What are you doing here, anyway?” She dropped onto her bed, snuggling into her pillows and blankets.

  I sat down on the edge beside and reminded myself I had to do this. I owed it to Asher. And I owed it to Jordan. If I’m being honest, I should go downstairs after and tell my parents, too. Hmmm. Maybe not.

  “I have something I need to tell you. About that night when I texted Asher.�
�� Now, I had her attention. Jordan sat up and scooted back to lean against her headboard.

  “What? Why? Did he tell you to?” she asked.

  I shook my head. “No. Of course not.”

  “Then why are you doing it?”

  I exhaled a deep breath. “Because, it’s the right thing to do. You ready?”

  She nodded.

  “Okay, so you know I was supposed to spend the night at Tyler’s that night?” She nodded again. “Yeah, well, um,” I hated admitting this to her, because it meant she’d been right all along, not about Tyler, about me. “So, you know we’ve been buds forever, but he’s been getting into things he shouldn’t and trying to drag me down with him. I told Asher about it one day when we were at mentoring and he told me to cut Tyler loose. He didn’t say it like that, but that’s what he meant. And I was going to. That night when he asked if I could spend the night. My plan was to talk to him and say we couldn’t be friends anymore if he didn’t straighten up. When we talked that night, he was like, yeah, cool, fine. And I thought, whew, you know. Because, I didn’t want to lose my friend.

  “Well, then he’s like, let’s go to the corner store and get some snacks, right? So, we did, but when we got there, he didn’t want to pay for anything. He started acting like he was going to steal all this crap from the convenience store.”

  “Payton!” Jordan sat up and put her hand on my arm.

  “I know! Jord, I already got picked up by the police this summer. They told me one more screw up and I was going to juvie. Since I’ve been hanging out with Asher, I don’t know, he’s pretty cool, and he’s teaching me to play. I’ve been talking to some guys about starting our own band. I can’t do that if I’m in juvie.”

  “So, what did you do?”

  “I ran. I ran as fast as I could. I didn’t want to be anywhere near that place if Tyler got caught. All he would have to do is say I was there, too, and I’d be done. So, as soon as I got far enough away, I texted Asher to come pick me up.”

  Chapter Seventeen

  Jordan

  I sat back against my headboard. “Why didn’t you call me? Or Mom and Dad?”

  Payton made a face. “Seriously? Do you know what would have happened if I called Mom and Dad? I didn’t even do anything. As far as I know, Tyler didn’t either. At least, not that time.”

  “Well, what about Joe? Or Bobby?”

  Payton leaned back with a groan. “Jordan, don’t be stupid. They live forever away. It was late at night. Asher said I could call him and I did. I needed help and he helped me. He took me back to his house so Mom and Dad wouldn’t ask any questions. I haven’t talked to Tyler since then. It’s done. I didn’t do anything bad, except stay the night somewhere safe rather than with my ex-friend who’s a delinquent.”

  It made sense. And really, how could I be mad at him? He was twelve and he needed help.

  “Okay. Fine. I get it. But why didn’t he tell me?”

  “Jordan, come on! Bro code. I asked him not to tell you and he didn’t.”

  I so wanted to be mad at Asher. I wanted this to be his fault and not mine for jumping to conclusions.

  “Look, sis. Asher and I are kinda friends now, but he did all this for you. Not for me.”

  I scowled at my little brother. Punk kid.

  “Guess what he said to me today.”

  “What?” I asked, sulking.

  “He said he couldn’t earn your trust by breaking mine.” Payton stood up and stretched. “If you ask me, Jord, he’s a good guy and you’re an idiot if you don’t want to be his girlfriend. The dude’s a rock star.”

  Gah! I hated he was right. “But that’s kind of the problem. Kelly said he has girls hanging all over him all the time.” I had no idea why I told my brother that, but we were sharing and it just slipped out.

  “Of course, he does! So does Joe. And Bobby. But that doesn’t mean they’re players.” Payton made a face as he sat back down. “Okay, maybe Bobby is a little bit. But he’s not a jerk. And neither is Asher. I think he really cares about you, Jord. The guy’s been miserable. I can hardly stand being around him, he’s so mopey.”

  “He is?” I hoped I didn’t sound too hopeful.

  Payton smirked. “Yes. And it sucks. We’ve been working together a lot because the talent show’s this weekend and he’s hard to deal with right now.”

  I bit my lip to keep my grin under control. Could it be possible? Did Asher miss me as much as I missed him? And would he forgive me? I wanted him to, but that would require apologizing. But how?

  “Thanks, Payton. You really didn’t owe me an explanation, but I’m glad you told me.” Leaning over, I gave him a hug.

  “Ugh. Why are you hugging me?” he asked, but he hugged me back.

  “Because I love you, too.” I ruffled his hair.

  He smacked my hand away and stood up. “I’m leaving. And don’t ever touch me again.”

  “See you later, Pay!” I yelled after him as he slammed my door shut behind him.

  Sitting back on my bed, I stared at my closed up window and thought about how I could fix things with Asher. I knew I needed to apologize to him. But would a simple apology be enough or did I need to come up with something better? I had no idea, but I knew that’s all I would be thinking about until one came to me.

  Friday.

  The next night was the talent show. But first, we had a game. I arrived at the rink early, before anybody else except my dad.

  “Jordan, what are you doing here so early?” Dad asked when I stuck my head inside his office without looking at the starting lineup. It never changed, so I didn’t bother looking. “Come in, sit down.”

  I did as he asked, taking a seat in the cracked pleather chair in front of his desk. “I wasn’t doing anything at home, so I figured I’d get a head start warming up.”

  Dad sat back, his fingers steepled in front of his face as he studied me. “Did you check the list?”

  I shook my head. “Nope.”

  He raised his brows. “No? Why not?”

  My heart lurched a little. “Because, it’s the same every week. Why? Should I?” I started to lift out of my chair.

  “Wait!” Dad stopped me. “Yes, you should look, but first I want to talk to you about something.”

  I sat back down, but I didn’t want to. Dang! Why didn’t I look at the list before walking in? How would I ever sit through one of Dad’s talks while wondering what was on that piece of paper?

  Dad didn’t say anything right away, and when he did, I couldn’t believe the words coming out of his mouth. “I didn’t tell you this when you asked me to join the team, but I already knew Asher would be transferring here.”

  “I’m sorry, what?” I had to be hearing things.

  “Asher Sloane is one of the best left wings in the northeast. I recruited him.”

  He’d recruited Asher? “But, but why?” I didn’t understand. “You encouraged me to leave my team. You let me go through all of that just to ride the bench.” I stood up, my fists clenched at my sides. “How could you do that?”

  Dad stood, too, and walked around to the front of his desk. “What have I always taught you, Jordan?”

  “Play to win,” I repeated the mantra without even thinking.

  Dad nodded. “Play to win. Every decision I make for this team is to that end. Winning games. This isn’t pee-wee’s, kiddo. My players move out and up.”

  “I know that!”

  Dad’s lips thinned at my outburst.

  “Sorry, sir.”

  “Jordan, if your team had been competitive, if I saw you improve by leaps and bounds each season, I would have never encouraged you to move to my team. I don’t enjoy watching you get pushed around by these guys who are a lot bigger than you. But I know your dream, sweetheart. I know you want to keep playing and this was the only way I could help you.”

  “By bringing in someone better than me so I’d hardly ever get to play!” I bit my lip. I’d yelled at him again.

  Dad
looked down at his feet and sighed, weighing his words while I waited. Finally, he met my gaze. “No. I brought Asher here to make you better. I knew if you had to compete every week for the starting position, you would. I knew you’d work your butt off to play better than him. And you have.”

  I scoffed. “I’m never going to be better than him. You just said he’s the best left wing in the Northeast!”

  Dad nodded. “He is. And maybe you won’t ever play as well as him, but you are playing better than you ever have before and you’re playing better than Justin Painter.”

  “Justin? You’re going to put me in as defenseman?” Seriously?

  “No. I’m going to put Asher in as left defense and you in for left wing. Between the two of you, you’re both better than Justin. Even if you weren’t left handed. Justin doesn’t want it bad enough. Maybe if he worked harder- but, that’s a conversation for him.”

  I stared at him, stunned. “Are you serious? You’re starting me?”

  “Yes, Jordan. You’re starting.”

  I threw my arms around his neck and whooped. “Thank you, Daddy! Thank you!”

  Dad laughed as he hugged me back. “Don’t thank me. Whatever you and Asher have been working on in the basement’s been making a difference.”

  I pulled back with a frown. Really? I owed this to him, too? Even though Asher and I hadn’t been working out together, I’d been doing the things he showed me on my own. And it made enough of a difference I’d reached my goal to start in a game this season.

  “Hey, what’s the matter?” Dad brushed his thumbs over my cheeks.

  “Asher.”

  Understanding washed over Dad’s face. “Do I need to get involved? Did he hurt you?”

  I shook my head. “No, this one’s on me, I’m afraid.”

  Dad lifted one brow. “Well, you’ll make it right.”

  I only hoped he was right.

  I barely remembered changing in the locker room. I waited for Dad to give me the signal to enter the guy’s locker room for the pre-game pep talk. I walked in to find the only open seat between Leo and Asher. My excitement over getting to start couldn’t quite dispel the awkwardness of having to sit beside my recent ex boyfriend who also happened to be my biggest competition on the team.